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Bipolar disorder -– where patients experience recurrent episodes of mood disturbance, ranging from extreme elation (mania) to severe depression -- is thought to affect roughly 2% of the world's population in its most pronounced forms (bipolar I and II), with milder forms of the disorder affecting another 2%. A new Lancet Series provides a comprehensive overview of the genetics, diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder, outlining future challenges and debating imminent changes to the criteria that psychiatrists use to diagnose the illness. (Free registration required.)

Related Summaries

A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry found higher rates of subthreshold mania or hypomania in children with a parent with bipolar disorder compared with children of parents without the condition. Family history of bipolar disorder was also associated with increased odds of children having full manic, manic-depressive or hypomanic episodes.

Subthreshold bipolar I disorder symptoms and emotional dysregulation were associated with the highest odds of bipolar I disorder conversion in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and major depressive disorder, a study showed. Children with subthreshold symptoms were more than nine times more likely to convert to bipolar I, while those with impaired emotional regulation had a more than twofold increased conversion risk, researchers reported in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Researchers interviewed more than 10,000 teens and found that 2.5% of them met the criteria for having mania and depression, indicative of bipolar disorder. They also reported that mood disorders became more prevalent as children get older. The findings appear in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

More children are being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but psychologists don't yet agree on the symptoms that characterize the pediatric form of the disorder, which often resembles ADHD. The New York Times Magazine profiles a boy with bipolar disorder and the effect his disorder has had on his parents and younger sister.

A mobile clinic run by the Louisiana Department of Health brings mental health care to adolescents in three underserved, Katrina-affected parishes in New Orleans. Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and nurses staffing the van see all types of problems, from post-traumatic stress disorder to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.